The following invention, as expressed by the title of the present description, consists of an improved coin selector being of the type of coin selectors which are mounted in any type of automatic machines and apparatus which operate by means of the insertion of coins such, that the improvements are addressed to the different mechanisms or devices that the selector incorporates as there are, the anti-thread safety mechanism, the activation of the electronic coin measuring and control system, the measurement of the different parameters of the coins to be validated and in the acceptance and access safety of the coins being validated as good.
In short, it deals with obtaining a coin selector of great reliability and that allows to avoid frauds, such that it detects and validates as good valid coins, discriminating the false ones, and that furthermore coins having been validated as good ones may not be recovered, once entered into the accounts, by the inlet in the case that they are attached to a thread, the anti-thread mechanisms acting deactivating the system and impeding the recovery of validated coins.
The coin selector which is presented is of special application in automatic machines and apparatus which operate by the introduction of coins whereby the measuring and control system remains xe2x80x9cdormantxe2x80x9d while no coin validations are carried out, having a minimum energy consumption as the measuring and control system is only activated when detecting the presence of coins to be validated.
As time passes, coin selectors have been evolving such that, at a beginning, the selectors basically referred to carrying out the reading of a series of parameters of coins for their validation, for which purpose there were opposed sensors performing the corresponding readings in the passage channel of the coins within the selector.
In this way, if the readings performed by the sensors were within a series of values already recorded in the selector itself, the coin was validated as good and if said values were not within the prerecorded intervals, the coin was validated as not being correct, and rejected.
Later, coin selectors evolved by incorporating different anti-thread safety mechanisms for avoiding that coins attached to threads could be inserted to activate the coin acceptance system and thereafter be extracted, with diverse results.
Thus, certain selectors, in the proximity to the coin inlet opening, incorporate a rotable lever which, by its free end, interferes the beam of a pair of diodes such, that when the coin is inserted, it produces the movement of said lever and, thus, the release of the beam so that, until the beam has not again been interfered, the system will not definitively accept the coin so that, when the coin is attached to a thread, this latter impedes the lever from returning to its initial position so that acceptance of the coin is not produced albeit it may have been validated as good.
On the other hand, upon the coins freely falling through the insertion opening, upon abutting against with the base of the passage conduct in front of the measuring sensors, there occur rebounds of the coins at their advance, which causes that the coins when facing the sensors, the relative position thereof is not always the same, whereby a dispersion of the measurements is produced, being it convenient to make the measurement with the coins being always in the same relative position in respect of the sensors.
We can also cite Utility Model U950755 in which there is described an anti-thread mechanism constituted by a lever being rotable in respect of a shaft, being positioned in relation to the access opening for the coins to the selector, said lever being provided with a prolongation which is fitted between a pair of projections of a second lever being also provided with a prolongation that is arranged between a pair of diodes, i.e. the anti-thread mechanism is configurated by two levers which are related to each other.
Also, in said file there is described a weight detector defined by a generally C-shaped plate which can be fixed by the free end of one of its wings whereas its other wing protrudes through a window of one of the walls of the coin passage conduct, said weight sensor remaining in a plane lower than that of the rolling and converging towards its free end, causing the coins when rolling, to fall impacting on its free end for reading the weight in view that the cited sensor is provided with a pair of gauges one of which is arranged at each side thereof.
In the present description, there are described improvements referring to coin selectors, so as to obtain a selector of greater reliability, both in the validation of coins as in the safety thereof against possible frauds, such that the improvements introduced into the selector comprise an anti-thread safety mechanism constituted by a lever of a general L-shape being positioned in respect to the coin inlet opening, that is mounted rotably in respect of a shaft by the end of one of its wings whilst its other wing crosses the coin passage channel when in a resting position, and interferes by its free end the beam of a pair of photodiodes, there being arranged below the lever, a feeler of a general L-shape being rotable about its vertex, one of the wings thereof having a shape of a truncated cone which, in its resting position, stays crossing the coin passage and which, on the possible impact of the coins, guides them towards the anvil, thereby waking up or activating the measuring and control system, from which dampening anvil onwards the coins homogeneously roll along a lever being rotable in respect of a shaft of its front end which lever is related with a weight measuring gauge, the coins being guided for their collection or return by means of a system of intercepting means constituted by a pair of interrelated levers.
The lever being rotable in respect of a shaft of its end preceding in respect of the advance of the coins, on which the coins remain for their validation, has a projection that crosses one of the walls of the coin passage channel and stays over the free end of a gauge which measures the weights of the coins on the grounds of the deformation transmitted thereto by the projection upon the coins rolling over the lever.
The system of intercepting means for guiding the coins for their collection or return, is constituted by a pair of levers and in such a way that the lever being positioned downstream in accordance with the advance movement of the coins, is mounted rotably in respect of a shaft being parallel to the channel of advance movement of the coins and, as well, said lever is attached to the end of the core of a coil, the lever having a pair of projections that, in their resting positions, remain crossing the coin passage channel such that the lever becomes related to the preceding lever by means of a projection against which it abuts.
The lever relative to the system of intercepting means guiding the coins for collection or return thereof, is mounted rotably in respect of a shaft being parallel to the channel of advance movement of the coins, it being provided more upwardly than said rotation shaft, with a projection on which the lever abuts, whilst lower than the rotation shaft, it has a base projection which in its resting position remains retracted in respect of the coin passage channel thereby leaving channel A free for the return of the coins.
Activation of the coil causes that, upon its core retracting, it provokes tilting of the lever, retracting the pair of projections in respect of the coin passage channel, whilst said tilting of the lever provokes tilting of the lever upon pushing in respect of the projection thereof, causing the thereto opposed projection to become positioned in respect of coin passage channel A closing it, so that the coins roll thereon to fall through collection channel B.
To complete the description which will be made hereafter, and so as to help to a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, there is accompanied to the present description, a set of drawings in the figures of which the most characteristic details of the invention are represented in an illustrative, non-limiting way.